Estimating Energy Potential from Medical Waste Incinerator Heat?

[job2oo5]

Dear All,

What is the best approach to estimating energy from incinerator waste heat?

Note that it is medical waste being incinerated.


Thank you so much.

 

[Mech_Engineer]

You could make a gross estimate using the temperature of the exhaust and some knowledge of the makeup of it (mostly air with less O2 and more CO2 and CO, little carbon). Assuming it was just heated air would probably be a conservative estimate.

 

[job2oo5]

Hello,

How can I use the temperature? My interest is to estimate how much energy can be derived from a given quantity of medical waste, then decide whether the quantity is attractive to generate electricity out of it or consider heating.

Thank you so much.

 

[Jobrag]

What is your medical waste made up of? If it includes plastics you might find that you have pollution problems, you also may have problems with corrosion on boiler tubes if your waste contains sulpher or other chemicals.

 

[job2oo5]

It is a mixture, as u might be aware of the kind of waste from health care units. I think emissions in incineration cannot be completely eliminated although can be greatly reduced by design.

 

[Ian Blenkharn]

Unsorted soft clinical (medical) waste produced in the UK, first treated by autoclave to remove any risk of infection and then shredded to homogenise has a typical calorific value of 23,000 - 31,000 J/g

Ian Blenkharn
Blenkharn Environmental

 

[job2oo5]

This is significant energy value: about 23-31MJ/kg!

 

[Ian Blenkharn]

Remember, this waste has been autoclaved first so bulk liquid waste has been removed and the residual moisture content is no more that 20%

Clinical waste composition varies. It varies depending on the nature of clinical activities, ie medical or surgical, acute or chronic care, and with the country of origin that will affect the use of single-use disposable items.

The bulk of waste, in the UK, comprises plastic. There is much hard plastic from medical devices and syringes, PVC from IV tubing etc, and non-woven polyprop from gowns and drapes. The remaining waste is high in paper and cotton fibres.

The data I quote from obtained as the average of samples from a UK clinical waste treatment facility receiving waste from many UK acute hospitals, and tested in a UKAS accredited laboratory.

Ian

 

[job2oo5]

Great Ian.